A magazine (titled “Good Magazine” believe it or not) released an article about none other than the 51 Best Magazines ranked by magazine editors. Called “The 51 Best* Magazines Ever” (*Smartest, Prettiest, Coolest, Funniest, Most Influential, Most Necessary, Most Important, Most Essential, etc.), the list probably consists of those 51 magazine editors rubbing each others’ backs and egos.
“A magazine—like the smart, charming gazette you hold in your hands, even in this age of electronic everything everywhere, is a marvelous invention.” If I didn’t know any better, it sounds like Good Magazine is threatened by the internet - so much so that they needed a list to talk about how awesome, comforting, and necessary print magazines are. They also decided to daintily idealize the printed, glossy stacks of papers “a marvelous invention.”
The article is a 1,000 word advertisement parading as an article full of meaningless fodder, with sentences like “Newspapers tell you about the world; magazines tell you about their world.” What does that sentence really tell us? Not much.
However, it’s not a complete loss. The same way I like “Snapple Facts” (for example, “children grow faster in the spring” and “all porcupines can float in water”), the article throws around some tidbits of information on (guess)…more magazines you can buy!
Curious about the list? I’ll spoil it.
1. Esquire
2. The New Yorker
3. Life
4. Playboy
5. New York Times
See the rest at Good Magazine.
Jonas Pelli @ Sun, 02/25/2007 - 3:47pm
Hm, I don't think they're rubbing each other's backs and egos so much as paying tribute to iconic historical figures in magazine journalism. Most of those top 5 were awarded for past distribution spans under long gone (some dead) editors, not current ones. But I'd agree, there's a definite "golden years" tone to the piece; nostalgia's a hctib, but mags aren't dead yet.